Method of treating tungsten ores.



. UNITEDSTATES 'PAilENT OFFICE:

FREDERICK M. BEcxErr, .oE NIAGARA EALLs,I1\TEw YQRK, ASSIGNO-R T O ELECTED METALLURGICAL COMPANY, or "NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, ACORPORATION 0E WEST VIRGINIA.

ITO-Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. BECKET, a subject of the King of Great Britain, re-

siding at Niagara Falls, in the county of not, and thereafter treated by an acid solfree from phosphorus, or contain vent or otherwise to remove phosphorus. I have found that a procedure similar to the above may be ver advantageously applied to certain ores o tungsten which contain considerable proportions of manganese, associated with iron, but which are either phosphorus in proportions which are negligible from a technical standpoint. Such ores are herein referred to as low-phosphorus ores. As applied to such ores, the treatment serves to increase the ratio of tungsten to manganese, and thereby to render the ore available for the preparation of metallurgical products containing comparatively little manganese. T The present method is applicable for instance to wolframite, an iron-tungstate containing considerable manganese, and to hiibnerite', an iron-manganese tungstate in which manganese predominates, such ores being herein referred to as ores of the irontungstate type."

The present method may be carried into effect as follows The low-phosphorus tungsten ore or concentrate is first subjected to a reducing operation, appropriate reducing agents being for example carbon, hydrogen,

carbon monoxid, producer-gas, or furnace gases havlng a reducing character. The reduction is effected under known conditions at a temperaturc'below the melting-point of the reducednrodnct. and the reduction Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 25, 1913.

' to manganese.

METHOD OF TREATING TTU'N'GS'IYEN ORES.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913. Serial No, 791,733.

part or all of the manganese. This may be accomplished by treatment with an acid or acid-reacting body under the following conditions: To the reduced product is added an excess of sulfuric acid, for instance of 1.20

specific gravity, and the mass is allowed to stand for 24 hours with frequent stirring. Moderate heating accelerates the reaction, but involves some loss of tungsten by solution. The conditions are in all cases so controlled as to increase the ratio of tungsten cation of successive batches of reduced product, with such reinforcement as may be required. By this treatment, per cent. or upward of the manganese may be removed, and also a large percentage of the iron, the result of the removal of the iron being of course a corresponding concentration of the tungsten-content of the reduced product. acid-treatment, any other appropriate procedure for removing manganese may be used. In case the initial reduction of the mass was complete or substantially complete, the purified product is now melted in an electric furnace, yielding directly a commercially available metal or ferroalloy, the composition of which depends upon the amount of residual iron. In case the initial reduction was partial or incomplete, the reduced product is subjected to a further or supplementary reducing action, preferably in the electric furnace, in accordance with methods now well known to those skilled in this art, and preferably by means of a non-carbonaceous reducing agent, such as silicon, whereby there is obtained a metal or ferroalloy which is low in manganese, and likewise low in carbon.

I claim u 1. The method of treating; tungsten ores,

The solution is then drained' oil, and is preferably applied to the purifi- Instead of the above-described which consists in subjecting a 'low-phosphorus, manganese-bearing ore of the irontungstate type to a reducing operation, and ratio of tungsten to manganese, and theretreatin the reduced product to increase the after completing the reduction. 10 ratio 0 tungsten to manganese. In testimony whereof I affix my signature 2. The method oftreating tungsten ores, in presence of two witnesses. which consists in subjecting a low-phos- FREDERICK M. BECKET.

phorus, manganese-bearin ore of the iron- Witnesses: tungstate type to a re ucing operation, J. H. NELLEB, treating the reduced product to increase the SIDNEY OTIS. 

